life line by line

Multiple possessions, destruction of public property, Haruka’s memories, and Raikou’s & Ibaragi’s plans for Haruka are slowly revealed as Tactics reaches its final arc. The tricky staff of the series almost had me believing this was going to be filler episode, but luckily continued onward with the aftereffects of Ibaragi’s (and Raikou’s) “attacks” from the previous episode.

As per the norm when regarding Tactics, don’t forget to drop by Tensai11’s for her review on the series as well. I was actually hoping she would do her normal review so I could cop out on doing one, but based on the fact she said she did a “crappy” synopsis I’ll have to do it instead. The pains for being behind on blogging!

The more I think about it, the more I realize how smoothly the flow of the episode was as each section of the episode led nicely to the next. Looking at the episode as an whole, one can break it down into three major sections give or take personal opinions/views (as always is the case). In that avenue, I’ll be describing the episode into three breaks which will hopefully make the episode clear to anyone that was lost or confused at any point.

Possession is fun!
Rosalie more or less joins Kantarou and the crew as another member of the merry gang as Hasumi oh-so-politely asks Kantarou to watch over her while he attends to business around the country. What initially starts as lite comedy humor with Rosalie constantly getting possessed (the making-face game was a riot) eventually hints that something is really wrong without anyone noticing so. A little more on that later in the next section, but anyway for the most part, Rosalie’s possessions with Suzu & Youko goofing around was some good laughter that draws the viewers off from thinking this episode was going to be anything but fluff.

The Inbetween
Hints of the bigger picture become apparent later in the episode when Haruka dreams of his past with various Oni after his tail. One could have put off Haruka’s dream as just having a nightmare of sorts, but when an possessed Rosalie comes in trying to take away Haruka’s glowing tailsman (remember, given by Yuri) one knows something is up. Soon afterwards, the tailsman stops glowing and Rosalie turns back to normal while behind the scenes Kantarou watches as his suspicions have become true. I should also note that during and right before Haruka’s scene, there was a scene change over to Ibaragi and her gang as she’s shown still playing that lute/guitar from before (which helps to release Haruka’s true self). It is there that we can assume that Haruka’s dream, the glowing tailsman, and Ibaragi’s playing all have something in commom; what, we can only guess until it becomes known.

Let’s Paint the Town Red!
The following day the crew decides to head somewhere (I don’t remember the place off-hand) to enjoy some touring and plain old fun. Surprisedly Kantarou decides not to go (what the.. the laziest one in the group!) as he has some work to do but wishes them off the same. Suzu tries to get some alone time with Haruka to see what his problem is and maybe cheer him up, but never gets the opportunity until it becomes noticable to the other two It is at this time that part of Ibaragi’s and Raikou’s plans come to fruition while at the same time Kantarou finds the source of theirs (ie. glowing tailsman) problems. Acting fast and thanks to Sugino, Kantarou heads to the rest of the crew as he finds that the tailsman most likely has a sorcerer’s stone that thanks to Ibaragi has been drawing various oni/youkai towards Haruka. This also explains why Rosalie kept constantly getting possessed as various spirits were after Haruka; Ibaragi’s plan being to draw out the real Haruka as he’ll have to use more of his powers to stop the demons.

Unfortunately for Kantarou, he’s a litttle too late as an more than average oni/youkai has possessed Rosalie and will stop at nothing to get the sorcerer’s stone from Haruka. Haruka has to try different tactics to try to stop the possessed Rosalie without hurting her but Ibaragi’s intervention via the stone and lute playing turns him into his true self: the demon-eater tengu. Haruka looking almost as possessed as Rosalie goes all out and fires a huge blast of red lightning that not only stops Rosalie but destroys the nearby tourist spot they were all just at. Before Haruka can continue further, Kantarou arrives to stop him via some scroll spells and the like… at least calming Haruka for the moment.

The aftermath luckily isn’t so bad, only the tower building got destroyed and Rosalie is okay. Haruka though? Viewers can only guess by the ending images that Haruka had to forcefully repress his “old” self to return to “normal.” I thought this was the best and most “cool” scene as we can only see the true red/blue-eye Haruka via the scattered glass until he returns to normal. Kantarou informs him of the stone and the episode ends with Haruka none to please about the recent turn of events: from his slowly regaining memories to hurting friends to being constantly tricked by Ibaragi and Raikou. Haruka’s new life is slowly falling apart as forces want him to return to his old self for their own reasons…

I probably sounded cheesy at parts of the review, but I can’t help but give the recent episodes of Tactics an approving nod. For once, we have actual “bad guys” whose schemes we can only guess at while at the same time learning of Haruka’s (and Kantarou’s?) forgotten past. I forgot if it was in this episode, an previous one, or episodes 22-23 that I have yet to blog but I loved the scene where Haruka’s laments over whether or not it’s a good thing he forgot his former self. To me, it seems Haruka is enjoying his current life whether or not he verbally says so (god forbid he compliments Kantarou) yet forces currently out of his reach decided it was not for him. I just don’t see any right Ibaragi or Raikou has in trying to get Haruka to return to his former self other than petty selfish ones (even Raikou mentioned that Haruka was the only demon his family could never defeat, so this time he’ll be the one to do it). The current Haruka, as much as I can figure, is nothing like his past self in any “evil” sort of way. He has way too many companions that are helping to keep him grounded and if anything, Haruka does show some type of compassion for them all (yes, even Kantarou).

Anyway, I’ve already seen the next two episodes of Tactics and things are just going to get worse for Haruka and Kantarou as Ibaragi and her gang move in for the kill. And while I do want to see the “old” Haruka just for the hell of it, I like the current one the audience has grown to love. Haruka just wouldn’t be the same without Kantarou, Suzu, and Youko around!

… btw, I forgot to mention that I think based on all the hints the staff has been giving that maybe one of Kantarou’s ancestors was the one to initially seal Haruka away. They keep showing that blasted silhouette image of the person who imprisoned Haruka that looks all too similar to Kantarou with an sword on his back! If this is true, I defnitely want to see how Haruka’s imprisonment came about!